


Out in the Field

by reeby10



Category: The Hidden Almanac (Podcast)
Genre: Gardening Tips, Gen, I managed to reference both episodes she's mentioned in so I feel accomplished, Introspection, farms, hurrah for fics about extremely side characters, that may or may not actually work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 04:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10677348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: She still had a hard time thinking of herself as Queen Raggenthoth the Fourth, Ruler of the Glass Wastes and Protector of the Coriander Isles, rather than just plain old Sheila.





	Out in the Field

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution for Be The First 2017. Although I discovered as I posted this that it wasn't the first, but the other two are crossovers so... I think this still counts? Story of my life lol

She still had a hard time thinking of herself as Queen Raggenthoth the Fourth, Ruler of the Glass Wastes and Protector of the Coriander Isles, rather than just plain old Sheila. Queen Raggenthoth the Fourth might be who she was now, who she’d truly been all along even, but she’d been Sheila her whole life until just a few weeks ago. It was quite a change to make.

But it wasn’t like she had much choice about it at this point. She’d accepted the position she’d been born for because, well, what else was she to do when they came and told her? It wasn’t like being an intern, no matter how much she’d enjoyed it, could compare to being queen. It was an upgrade in basically every way.

Except for how she really did miss it quite a lot, when she let herself think about it.

At the Hidden Almanac Test Garden, she’d mostly been in charge of watering the plants. It wasn’t exactly an exciting job most of the time, barring a few memorable encounters with some rather more violent plants that had somehow found their way into the garden, but she’d also occasionally got to do some applied hagiography. That was what she was there for in the first place, what her internship was all about. It was a shame she had to leave before she’d even gotten her diploma.

Being queen now, no one was particularly worried about her having finished her studies, especially when they were in something so unrelated as hagiography. If she was honest, she wasn’t sure she had the time or motivation for it anymore anyway. Being at the Ravencoast School of Divinity had been fine, and her internship had mostly been fun even, but she had far more responsibilities now, ones she couldn’t just put off until an hour before they were due and hope for the best.

She was taking care of one of her responsibilities now, taking a tour of one of the vast coriander farms the islands were so known for. It was peaceful out here, the sun shining bright and cheerful down on her and the breeze barely ruffling the edges of her long robes. She would rather not be wearing them, but it was expected whenever she was out in public like this.

She was sure she’d get used to wearing them. Eventually.

One of her assistants, Delia, was just a few feet away, taking notes from the farmer for the palace records. He was saying something about a problem with aphids they’d been having for awhile, something that she was actually quite familiar with. They’d had similar problems in the Test Garden until Intern Josh figured out a solution.

“Spray them down with a mixture of vinegar and holy water,” she said impulsively, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth when both Delia and the farmer stopped talking, shock clear on their faces.

“Your majesty?” the farmer asked slowly, eyes darting between her and Delia like he wasn’t sure what to do. It was quite likely he didn’t, not having interacted with the royalty before. She wasn’t exactly what anyone had been expecting for the new queen.

“We had a problem with aphids at the Test Garden,” she replied, trying for reassuring rather than haughty. She didn’t want to scare him off, but this was one matter in her rule she actually had experience in and she wasn’t going to back down from it. “Spray the plants every other day and the aphids should be gone within a week.”

The farmer nodded, obviously still off balance, but she let him be. It would be better for them both that way, and she could only hope this would help her image with the local coriander farmers rather than hurt it. They were still wary of her, still waiting to see what kind of queen she would be. So was she, at least a little, but after today she was feeling just the tiniest bit more confident in it all.

They finished up the tour quickly after that, Delia taking the last of her notes and thanking the farmer on behalf of her queen. That part was still a little hard to grasp, that there could be a behalf of her at all. Not just her trudging along on her own and hoping she did things right.

On the way back to the palace, watching the coriander crops go by, she kept thinking. Thinking about the farm they’d toured, about how happy she was to have known what to do about the aphids. Thinking about how she’d really like to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible.

“Delia,” she said just as they arrived, eyes catching suddenly on the empty grounds surrounding them. “I believe I’d like to have a garden and an orchard planted around the palace. Make it somewhere I can see from my rooms, please.”

“As her majesty wishes,” Delia replied, scribbling out a note without letting on at all if she thought her queen was mad or just odd for such a request. Well, she’d been at this job for a while, she’d probably heard stranger. “Should I have a gardener brought on as well?”

“No,” she replied slowly, a smile growing on her face. “I think I’d like to do that part myself.”

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, feel free to come hit me up [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
